Josh Chimchirian

Dr. Karen Fitts

WRT 204
February 10, 2011
GlennophoBeck

From the Newsweek article “What Glenn Beck Should Know About Diversity” By Raina Kelley

“Call me an old-fashioned knee-jerk liberal, but I don’t understand why I need to defend the

push for diversity”, Ms. Kelley first states in her article. Raina Kelley does not hold out to get her point

across; Glen Beck critiques diversity in a near xenophobic form. I can’t blame her for this view however,

because he questions the logic or helpfulness in having diversity in our institutions. Ms. Kelley then

proceeds to inform Mr. Beck that we are in a free country and with that fact; there are many cultures

and opinions. She also suggests how uninteresting it would be to always socialize with people exactly

the same as you. Diversity is what makes this country interesting and worth living in.

Her claims do not stop there; it’s then brought to the readers’ attention to imagine themselves

as head of admissions for Yale. In that position, one must account for race, class rank, social status and

talent. Of course, even after all the decisions are made, there are people claiming to be victim to be

subjects of biased review or, god forbid, racism. But none of which are the case, there is probably hardly

any biased selection at all; as she also mentioned, its business. This article helped me recognize the

selection process and to understand what the admissions office had to go through when selecting me.

Even if this article was not directed at me, I probably learned more from it than Mr. Glen Beck. If more

people understand this fact, less will complain and less will feel victimized.

As she clearly points out, “whether it be their point of view, number or variety of piercings,

religion, or sin color. We still accept all comers in this land”. With this exclamation, she is pointing out

that America was founded on the belief that we must be a diverse nation. Without it, we would cease to

be America, that land of opportunity.